And if front-runner Donald Trump is still ahead at the end,
several unnamed "longtime power brokers" reportedly urged the
Republican Party to prepare for a floor fight to nominate a more
acceptable alternative.

So-called brokered conventions are extremely rare, as a consensus
candidate typically emerges from each party's primaries with a
majority of the delegates.

But because the Republican 2016 presidential field has so many
well-funded candidates who could potentially soldier on despite
early primary-state losses, a brokered GOP convention could be
more likely than usual next summer. Should that happen, some GOP
leaders are reportedly preparing an 11th-hour effort to thwart
Trump from securing the party's nomination.

The Post's Robert Costa and Tom Hamburger reported that the
leaders discussed the issue at a Monday dinner with Republican
National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky).

Monday also happens to be the day Trump
ignited a national firestorm by proposing a "complete
shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our
country's representatives can figure out what is going on" with
the "hatred" emanating from the Muslim community.

Most of Trump's Republican presidential opponents condemned the
proposal, which Trump said was needed to protect the US from
terrorism. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
called Trump "a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,"
for example, and former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida said the
business mogul was
"unhinged."

Another candidate, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina,
predicted that if Trump were the Republican nominee, it would
be a disaster for the party's House and Senate candidates — a
possibility some of the anti-Trump agitators were most likely
worried about at the Republican meeting Monday.

"Priebus and McConnell were mostly quiet during the back and
forth. They did not signal support an overt anti-Trump effort,"
Costa and Hamburger wrote of the meeting, which was reportedly
attended by more than 20 Republican leaders, some of them allies
of Trump's primary rivals.

The Post's report added, "Upon leaving, several attendees said
they would soon share with one another memos about delegate
allocation in each state as well as research about the 1976
convention, the last time the GOP gathered without a clear
nominee."

An RNC spokesman, Sean Spicer, told The Post that the national
party was not endorsing an anti-Trump effort.

"The RNC is neutral in this process and the rules are set until
the convention begins next July," Spicer said. "Our goal is to
ensure a successful nomination and that requires us thinking
through every scenario, including a contested convention."

Trump has
repeatedly threatened to consider an independent bid for the
White House if the RNC does not treat him "fairly" in the
primaries.